People November 2008

Gabrielle Austin was hired as president of Ethnic Print Media Group, multicultural marketing specialists serving more than 1,200 Hispanic, Black and Asian newspapers. She is charged with new business growth and corporate development. Austin began her advertising career with Essence magazine and subsequently held advertising management positions at major daily newspapers, including The Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald, St. Paul Pioneer Press and Des Moines Register. She was honored by the Black Women’s Hall of Fame, Coca-Cola Community Service Award, Essence magazine’s President Award — four consecutive years. Austin is involved in many organizations, including the National Association for Female Executives, the Women’s Advertising Guild and the National Association of Minority Media Executives.

Denise D. Campbell was named associate publisher of Who’s Who in Black Chicago. A Chicago native, Campbell has worked in sales leadership for various high-profile media companies, including Real Times Inc., BET, ABC Disney, Cox Communications and the Tribune Co. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Who’s Who Publishing Co. was established in Atlanta in 1989 and currently publishes Who’s Who directories in 26 cities nationwide. The company also publishes Black Judges in America and Black Mayors in America.

Joy A. Collins was named general manager of Essence Communications Inc. Collins will be the key executive with oversight of the group’s financial, planning, production and administrative functions. Prior to joining Essence, Collins was vice president of business development at NBC Universal and before that an associate at JPMorgan Chase & Co., where she executed deals involving merger, acquisition, divestiture, advisory, equity and debt-raising activities for clients within the media and new media industries. Collins holds a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School. She graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from the University of California.

Pamela Browner Crawley joined the Philadelphia Eagles as senior vice president of public affairs and government relations. She will develop and implement community-relations strategies to promote the Eagles’ role as a good public citizen throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. She will also work with senior management to set priorities and define the organization’s media and government relations strategies. Prior to joining the Eagles, Crawley was as senior vice president and director of public affairs at Citizens Bank in Philadelphia, where she helped to create an innovative $250 million Citizens Job Bank Program. The first of its kind in the nation, the Job Bank formed a partnership with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to create or retain more than 5,000 jobs statewide.

Marvin Ellison was named executive vice president of U.S. stores for The Home Depot, becoming the first African-American in the company’s history to sit in its executive suites. The position puts him in charge of nearly 2,000 stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A native of Brownsville, Tenn., Ellison is the son of sharecroppers. He earned both a master’s degree in business administration and an undergraduate business/marketing degree from the University of Memphis. Most recently, he was president of Home Depot’s Northern Division, overseeing more than 650 stores and 110,000 employees in the Northeast and the Midwest.

Paul Hagan joined Carver Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Carver Federal Savings Bank, as interim chief financial officer. Hagan brings more than 20 years’ experience in accounting and banking to the role of interim CFO, including six years as an accountant in the financial services practice at accounting and consulting giant KPMG LLP. and seven years as CFO of Reliance Bancorp prior to its acquisition by North Fork Bank. Most recently, Hagan was CFO and a member of the executive management team of Community National Bank, a Denovo bank based in Long Island, N.Y.

William (Bill) Whitman Jr. was promoted to vice president of U.S. Communications for McDonald’s USA, making him the chief communications officer for the company. He will oversee management communications, internal and external communications, media relations, public affairs and stakeholder engagement; and he will continue to serve as the company’s chief spokesperson. Prior to this position, Whitman was the company’s senior director of media relations and public affairs. Before joining McDonald’s, Whitman held communications and public affairs positions at Exxon USA and Fleishman-Hillard International Communications. He is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and communications.